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Benin - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Portonovo

 

CLIMATE

Tropical climate; hot, humid in the south and semiarid in the north.

 

LANGUAGES

French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), and tribal languages (at least six major ones in the north).

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Benin’s legal system is based on French civil law and customary law. Benin has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

 

CURRENCY

Benin Franc (1 USD = 744.500 XAF as of April 15, 2002).

 

BENIN - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

BENIN - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Cotonou

Rue Caporal Bernard Anani

01 B.P. 2012

Cotonou, Benin

Telephone: [229] 30-06-50

Fax: [229] 30-06-70

http://usembassy.state.gov/benin/

 

Embassy of the Republic of Benin at Washington D.C.

2124 Kalorama Road, NW

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 232-6656

Fax: (202) 265-1996

 

BENIN - HOLIDAYS

 

BENIN - LEAVE

Maternity Leave: 14 weeks – 100% of pay (paid by social security).

 

BENIN - MINIMUM AGE

The Labor Code prohibits the employment or apprenticeship of children under 14 years of age in any enterprise; however, child labor remains a problem. The Ministry of Labor enforces the Labor Code in only a limited manner (and then only in the modern sector), due to the lack of inspectors.

 

To help support their families, children of both sexes--including those as young as 7 years old--continued to work on rural family farms, in small businesses, on construction sites in urban areas, in public markets, and as domestic servants under the practice of vidomegon. A 2000 report estimated that 75 percent of apprentices working as seamstresses, hairdressers, carpenters, and mechanics were younger than 15 years of age. Most of these apprentices also are under the legal age of 14 for apprenticeship. Children also commonly work as street vendors.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Benin – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

BENIN - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The Government administratively sets minimum wage scales for a number of occupations. In 2000 the Government raised the minimum wage to 25,000 CFA francs per month (approximately $34). However, the minimum wage does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Many workers must supplement their wages by subsistence farming or informal sector trade.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Benin – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

BENIN - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

BENIN - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides workers with the freedom to organize, join unions, meet, and strike, and the Government usually respects these rights in practice. The labor force of approximately 2 million is engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture and other primary sector activities, with less than 2 percent of the population engaged in the modern (wage) sector.

 

Although approximately 75 percent of the wage earners belong to labor unions, a much smaller percentage of workers in the private sector are union members. There are several union confederations, and unions generally are independent of government and political parties. The Economic and Social Council, a constitutionally mandated body established in 1994, includes four union representatives.

 

Strikes are permitted; however, the authorities can declare strikes illegal for stated causes, for example, threatening to disrupt social peace and order, and require strikers to maintain minimum services. In August the Government declared illegal a strike by customs officers protesting a surprise anticorruption inspection by the Finance Ministry. As in previous years, there were a number of teachers' strikes of various lengths during the year, which disrupted schools from the primary through university levels.

 

Unlike in the previous year, there were no peaceful strikes over increases in the price of gasoline. Labor unions continued to oppose the Government's merit-based promotion scheme. Unions also opposed a 1969 decree (which is still in effect) permitting the Government to dock the wages of striking public sector employees.

 

There were no known instances of efforts by the Government to retaliate against union activity; however, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) alleged that hostility to trade unions persisted and that union members were intimidated. A company may withhold part of a worker's pay following a strike. Laws prohibit employer retaliation against strikers, and the Government enforces them effectively.

 

Unions may form freely or join federations or confederations and affiliate with international bodies. The two major labor confederations are affiliated with the Brussels-based Confederation Internationale de Syndicats Libres. In early October, union members voted in "professional elections" for the federation or confederation that each member would like as his or her labor representative; however, the final results had not been tabulated or released by year's end, which prompted some unions to complain of possible or probable election fraud. The confederations themselves are divided on the merits of this concept, with some of the smaller or less mainstream unions arguing these elections were not in conformity with the Labor Code.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The Labor Code generally allows workers the freedom to organize and administer their own unions. The Labor Code provides for collective bargaining, and workers freely exercised these rights. Wages in the private sector are set in negotiations between unions and employers. The Labor Code also includes a section on the rights of workers with disabilities. The Government sets wages in the public sector by law and regulation.

 

The Labor Code prohibits employers from taking union membership or activity into account regarding hiring, work distribution, professional or vocational training, or dismissal. The Government levies substantial penalties against employers who refuse to rehire workers dismissed for lawful union activities.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, the law provides for sentences of imprisonment involving compulsory labor for certain acts or activities related to the exercise of the right of free expression. No such sentences were imposed during the year.

 

Trafficking in children is a problem.

 

The Labor Code prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, forced child labor is a problem. Some financially desperate parents indenture their children to "agents" recruiting farm hands or domestic workers, often on the understanding that money paid to the children would be sent to the parents. According to press reports, in some cases, these agents take the children to neighboring countries for labor. The Government has taken steps to educate parents and to prevent such kidnapings of children. Also, many rural children are sent to cities to live with relatives or family friends, often on the understanding that in return for performing domestic chores, they would receive an education. Host families do not always honor their part of the bargain, and the abuse of child domestic servants occurs. The Government has taken some steps to curb abuses, including media campaigns, regional workshops, and public pronouncements on child labor problems.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The Labor Code prohibits the employment or apprenticeship of children under 14 years of age in any enterprise; however, child labor remains a problem. The Ministry of Labor enforces the Labor Code in only a limited manner (and then only in the modern sector), due to the lack of inspectors. To help support their families, children of both sexes--including those as young as 7 years old--continued to work on rural family farms, in small businesses, on construction sites in urban areas, in public markets, and as domestic servants under the practice of vidomegon. A 2000 report estimated that 75 percent of apprentices working as seamstresses, hairdressers, carpenters, and mechanics were younger than 15 years of age. Most of these apprentices also are under the legal age of 14 for apprenticeship. Children also commonly work as street vendors.

 

In May the Government ratified ILO Convention 182, on eliminating the worst forms of child labor. The Government was making efforts to adhere to the provisions of ILO Convention 182.

 

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, the Government has been unable to enforce these prohibitions except in the modern sector. Forced child labor is a problem.

 

Trafficking in children is a problem.

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The Government administratively sets minimum wage scales for a number of occupations. In 2000 the Government raised the minimum wage to approximately $34 (25,000 CFA francs) per month. However, the minimum wage does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Many workers must supplement their wages by subsistence farming or informal sector trade. Most workers in the wage sector earn more than the minimum wage, although many domestics and other laborers in the informal sector earn less.

 

The Labor Code establishes a workweek of between 40 and 46 hours, depending on the type of work, and provides for at least one 24-hour rest period per week. Domestic and agricultural workers frequently work 70 hours or more per week. The authorities generally enforce legal limits on workweeks in the modern sector. The code establishes health and safety standards, but the Ministry of Public Service, Labor, and Administrative Reform does not enforce them effectively. The code does not provide workers with the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment. The Ministry has the authority to require employers to remedy dangerous work conditions but does not do so effectively.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

Although no law specifically prohibits trafficking in persons, the Government interprets its laws as prohibiting trafficking in persons in general and in underage girls in particular; however, trafficking in children remained a problem, and continued to be the subject of considerable media coverage. Longstanding provisions of the criminal code prohibit kidnaping. The country is a source, transit, and destination for trafficked persons, primarily children.

 

Internal trafficking of children within the country takes place in connection with the forced servitude practice called "vidomegon," whereby poor, often rural, families place a child, primarily a daughter, in the home of a more wealthy family to avoid the burden the child represents to the parental family. The children work, but the arrangement is voluntary between the two families.

 

BENIN - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

BENIN - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The Labor Code establishes a workweek of between 40 and 46 hours, depending on the type of work, and provides for at least one 24-hour rest period per week.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Benin – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)